1.1. Field of the Invention
The invention was made in attempting to solve a specific problem in connection with “auditing” nodes, e.g., computer workstations and other computers (referred to sometimes here as microcomputers) on a computer network. The problem being addressed by the inventors was that of uniquely identifying nodes on a network for the purpose of maintaining a central database reflecting the hardware and software configurations of the respective nodes.
1.2. Description of Related Art
Recent years have witnessed the development of a category of software application products which enable a network system administrator (“SYSADMIN”) to track computers and similar equipment (“nodes”), and their components, on computer networks. Applications in this category are sometimes referred to as “asset management” products. Typically, asset management products assess the hardware and software components associated with a node on a network and maintain a central database of those nodes and components. The central database is usually remote (on a central computer) from the particular nodes being audited, inventoried or tracked; it is typically used by the SYSADMIN in managing network equipment and software.
An illustrative network on which such an asset management product might be used is shown in FIG. 1. The network 100 includes two nodes 101, sometimes referred to as “client nodes,” and a node 102, sometimes referred to as a “server node,” connected by communications links 103.
The client nodes 101 and server node 102 are typically (but not necessarily) programmable computers. The two depicted client nodes 101 and the server node 102 are merely representative examples; a typical network may include many such nodes.
The network 100 may be wide or local in geographical scope, i.e., either a local area network (“LAN”) or a (“WAN”). Thus, the client nodes 101 and server node 102 may be geographically close, e.g., in the same building, or geographically dispersed, e.g., in separate cities.
The network may employ any one of a variety of topologies, protocols, and machine architectures as are known in the art. For example, the network 100 may embody a bus, star, or ring topology, may employ an Ethernet or token-ring protocol, or any other type of network, and may employ a peer-to-peer or client-server architecture.
The communications links 103 may be optical fibers, electrical cables, telephone wires, and/or wireless links depending on the particular embodiment implemented.
The foregoing examples are mentioned simply for purposes of illustration; those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure will realize that the network 100 may take many other possible conventional forms.
The various client nodes 101 typically will either be programmable computers (e.g., a user workstation) or will include one or more programmable processors (e.g., a printer server). As such, each client node 101 will normally include writeable storage 104, which may take the form of some or all of, e.g., a floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive, removable storage media (e.g., a ZIP™ drive, JAZ™ drive, a writeable CD-ROM drive, etc.), a tape drive, a flash-memory storage device, or any other suitable storage medium now known or later developed.
Like the client node 101, the server node 102 contains a storage 105, e.g., a disk drive.
Each client node 101 and the server node 102 contains a network interface card (NIC) 107.
1.3. The Desirability of Unique Node Identification
One task of an asset management product is to identify nodes uniquely and to recognize both when nodes 101 have been identified before and when they have not been, so as to recognize the node 101 each time the asset management product ‘sees’ it in the future, e.g., when the asset management product “audits” the node. This is required in order to match every node 101 up with its records in the central database. This allows the asset management product to know if there have been any changes in the components of a node 101 (e.g., a floppy drive has been removed) since a previous audit.